(live here with the Ethiopian community) – Today (11/23/2022) the Ethiopian community celebrates the Eid al-Sigd, which is unique to the members of the community. On the occasion of the holiday, we spoke with Elchin, a member of the Ethiopian community who immigrated to Israel as a child and grew up and was educated in Haifa.
Every year the Ethiopian community celebrates the “holiday of the mosque”. The holiday of the Sigd is celebrated 50 days after Yom Kippur, and its purpose is to commemorate the renewal of the covenant between God and his people. The holiday is celebrated with a mass ascent to a mountain in Ethiopia, with a large procession. The procession was led by the “Kaysim”, the spiritual leaders of the community, with an “Urit”, a Torah scroll in their hands. At the top of the mountain, the believers fasted and offered prayers to return to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. The choice to celebrate the holiday precisely at the top of the mountain was intended to give the holiday a resemblance to the location of Mount Sinai, where the Torah was given.
Since immigrating to Israel, the community has been celebrating the holiday of the synagogue every year by going to Jerusalem, where everyone gathers on the day of the holiday at the Promenade of the Governor’s Palace, some of them facing the Western Wall. As of 2008, the Sigid holiday was recognized as an official holiday in the State of Israel. In Haifa, the holiday is celebrated in schools and community centers.
In honor of the holiday, we spoke with Elchin, a member of the Ethiopian community, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia at the age of eight, grew up and studied in Haifa, and today studies in Vancouver, Canada.
Elchin, what do you remember about the holiday as a girl in Ethiopia?
Elchien: “During my time as a child in Ethiopia, it was less acceptable to celebrate the holiday. The holiday is considered an ancient holiday, celebrated in villages, where they could climb a high mountain and pray. When they moved following the beginning of the Aliya to Gondar, the city where I was born, the holiday was less accepted in the urban culture. In addition to distancing Physically from the mountain, the trend of immigrating to the land also caused the holiday to fade. The holiday expresses the desire to reach the land, and as soon as it became tangible and real, the need for the holiday to express this decreased.”
“In the country, the holiday continues to be celebrated even though it was not celebrated in the city of Gondar, because the arrival in the country symbolizes the end of the process, which began with a prayer in the mountains in Ethiopia. Today’s holiday is meant to remember a dream that has come true.”
What is the origin of the holiday of the mosque?
“The basis for the holiday is taken from the story of Ezra and Nehemiah, who understood the need for general, public correction. Yom Kippur symbolizes personal soul-searching, but Ezra and Nehemiah saw the need for social-public correction. Therefore, the holiday was established in the 19th century in Hashvan, 50 days after Yom Kippur. In the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, it is described how they went up to a high mountain in the place where they lived, made public correction and prayed to return to Jerusalem. The community adopted this custom.”
How do you usually celebrate the holiday since you immigrated to Israel?
“Ever since I was in elementary school, it was very important to me to take part in the ceremonies that mark this day. It is important to me that they know that this is a holiday no less important than any other Jewish holiday that we celebrate. From my high school years, I would already go up to participate in the ceremony of the whole community in Jerusalem, to participate in the exciting ceremony of the kaisim, the spiritual leaders of the community, and to meet the new generation that makes the pilgrimage and continues the tradition.”
“As it is customary to say that when the Temple is rebuilt, Yom Kippur will be as happy as the holiday of Purim, this is how the holiday looks among the members of the community. In the morning they fast until twelve o’clock, like on Yom Kippur, and then a big celebration begins, like on Purim, they have a feast and go down to the Wall.”
Do you feel that the holiday gets enough space among those who are not members of the community?
“In 2008, the State of Israel recognized this day as an official holiday, on which the Ethiopian community does not have to work. But still not all Jews know what this holiday means. Those who grew up with Ethiopians in school and in the community certainly know the holiday, but those who did not study with the members of the community in educational institutions won’t recognize him.”
Additional articles in Haifa – Haifa News:
What do you think about the fact that some educational institutions celebrate the holiday mainly for familiarization activities with the Ethiopian community, and less to get to know the holiday itself?
“It says preachy. It shows that there is a public that still does not know the community well enough to even be able to learn about its customs.”
In conclusion, what would you like to wish for the holiday?
“I want to wish that there will be a day of good remembrance, a day of prayer to the Holy One, blessed be He, with the clear intention of making our dreams come true. The fact that we came to Israel is a dream come true. I want to wish that there will be free love, we will respect the other, and we will not behave in a racist manner. In the end, this country is a kibbutz Big postcards”.
